Sardinian fried doughnuts!!!

Recipe in Italian

Hello everyone!!! Last Sunday was my birthday and I think I'm really lucky to  celebrate it on Carnival season in Italy. I rather have some fritters or doughnuts instead of the usual birthday cake. I love this ones, typical from Sardinia island....this is my mum's recipe but I converted it to use my sourdough starter instead of the active yeast. I've never made them so tasty, puffy and soft....there are really no words to describe them....just amazing! In Sardinia they are called " Parafrittusu" or Fatti Fritti...you got to try them.




SARDINIAN FRIED DOUGHNUTS

INGREDIENTS

• 200g stoneground flour 
• 250g very strong flour
• 200g semi skimmed milk
• 100g liquid levain starter (100% hydration)
• 50g natural brown sugar
• 50g lard
• 2 eggs
• 3g salt
• Seeds of a vanilla pod or vanilla essence
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Zest and juice of 1/2 orange
• 1/2 liquor glass of limoncello
• Frying oil
• Caster sugar to dust 

In the mixer bowl, using the flat beater, dissolve the levain starter with the milk. Add some flour, just enough to form a soft dough until it comes off the sides of the bowl.

Mix on low speed, add 1 egg and  and immediately after 1/3 of the sugar and flour.  When all the ingredients are incorporated add 1/3 of sugar, more flour and knead . Finally add the orange juice, limoncello, the citrus zest, vanilla essence, salt and the remaining sugar and flour.  Knead well all the ingredients until well combined on a medium-low speed until you have a smooth dough and it comes off the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the lard at room temperature in pieces, a bit at the time. Make sure the first dose is well combined before adding more lard. Knead on medium speed until the dough is smooth, shiny and elastic and you reach windowpane stage. Transfer dough into a bowl, cover with cling film and allow to rise until tripled in size. 

Divide the dough into equal pieces (about 20), shape each piece into a doughnut, place them into a well floured surface, cover and allow to rise for 1h and 30 mins until doubled in size. Meanwhile heat te oil until it reaches the temperature of 170ºC and  fry doughnuts in a large and tall saucepan 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and allow to sit on kitchen paper to drain off the excess of oil. 

Dust and cover the doughnuts with caster sugar and enjoy!

 

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Breadsticks with chia seeds!!!

  Recipe in Italian

In the last few weeks I've been quite sick, sinusitis, chest infection, high fever.....and for me not wanting to eat anything or cook when I get chance and I'm home it means I don't really feel very well. But about 2 weeks ago I really wanted to bake a loaf for a friend and his family and it's the first time I really had to push myself to knead the dough and bake a bread loaf. As I had too much sourdough left, as usually I feed the all starter which I keep in fridge, I didn't want to throw it away so I kneaded in just 5 minutes this amazing breadsticks! But I have to warn you if you are on a diet like me!!! They are crunchy, savoury, delicious and hard to resist! Once you try one you can't stop eating them!




BREADSTICKS WITH CHIA SEEDS

INGREDIENTS for 12 large breadsticks

• 200g organic stoneground flour (type 2)
• 160g mature sourdough starter (or not active yet sourdough 100% hydration)
• 45g water
• 25g extra virgin olive oil
• 7g salt
• Chia seeds to taste

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and knead until shiny, smooth and elastic. At this point add the chia seeds and mix until well distributed. Transfer dough into a lightly oiled bow, cover with cling film and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. Mine rested for just over 2 hours. Roll out the dough quite thin with a rolling pin. Cut the dough into 24 stripes about 1cm wide, and twist two stripes together. Place them on a baking sheet ( I used a silicon based tray OP OP from PavonIdea), cover and allow to rest for 30 mins.

Meanwhile pre-heat the oven at 180ºC.

Brush each breadstick with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Bake the breadstick for 20 minutes until light golden brown and crispy. 




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Cottage pie!!!

 Recipe in Italian

Wow lot's of memories......I didn't have a cottage pie for ages! When I used to live in the Uk it was one of my favourite meals. One of my british comfort food, especially on my first job as cabin crew when I did manage to bring daily a nice meal to heat up in the aircraft oven.  Yummy!!!

I love cottage pie, Shepherd's pie but especially the fish pie.

For this cottage pie I didn't actually follow any particular recipe, I just cooked it my own may, following my memories and my Italian roots.

So easy to make and full of flavours, a balanced meal perfect in this cold winter days!




COTTAGE PIE

INGREDIENTS 

Serves 4

• 1 carrot
• 1 celery stick
• 1 small onion
• 430g lean beef mince
• 60g tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 bay leaf
• Thyme sprigs
• Homemade meat stock
• Salt to taste
• 450g potatoes
• 60ml milk
• 1 knob of butter
• 20/30g grated parmesan cheese

Peel, wash and dice the vegetables. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan, add the diced vegetable and cook on a gentle heat until soft, add a drop of water if necessary or more olive oil.  Add the mince meat and cook until browned. At this stage add the thyme sprigs, the bay leaf, tomato sauce, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce and meat stock ( I used homemade  lean chicken stock). Cook on a gentle heat approximately 30 to 40 minutes until the gravy is thick and coating the meat. Season to taste and discard the bay leaf and thyme. 

Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted boiling water until tender. Drain and peel the potatoes still hot. Mash the potatoes with the milk and butter. Season to taste. Distribute meat into an ovenproof dish. Spoon on the mash to cover. Sprinkle with the grated parmesan cheese and some bread crumbs.  Bake the pie in the oven at 190ºC for 30 minutes or until golden brown. 

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Linseeds and linseeds flour bread!!!

 recipe in Italian

Hello!! Wow I started to write this post last week....actually I had finished to translate the recipe when I made a mistake and delated the all post! I was gutted ....It's already so difficult to find the time to translate and update both blogs (in Italian and English) . Thankfully I'm not posting very often nowadays even in my Italian blog. Let's see now if i'll manage to write and post this recipe today, Sunday the 1st of February.

Yet again another bread recipe, but for this one I used a firm pre-ferment, known as biga. It's an Italian style starter with no salt and made by using no too much yeast. I think it enhance the flavour of the bread, which comes from the grain and not from the yeast.  A bread with less yeast I also think it's easier to digest.




LINSEEDS AND LINSEEDS FLOUR BREAD WITH STONEGROUND FLOUR

INGREDIENTS

Biga:

• 100g type 2 stoneground flour
• 42g water
• 30g liquid sourdough starter (100%)

Final dough:

• 90g biga
• 400g stoneground flour (type 2)
• 100g linseeds flour
• 400g water
• 12g salt
• Linseeds to taste

The night before start preparing the biga. Mix the water, sourdough, and flour until combined; knead  until the dough just comes off the sides of the bowl, 2 to 3 minutes. The dough will be very stiff. Ferment at room temperature for 12 hours.

In the morning autolyse the two types of flour with 300g of water for at least 30 minutes. 

Mix the biga with the remaining 100g of water on low speed with the flat beater, add the autolysed flour and water and salt, mix on medium speed until dough picks off the sides and bottom of the bowl into a single mass. The dough should be shiny, smooth and elastic. An excellent test for gluten development is to gently work a piece of the dough between your fingers, stretch it as thin as possible, until it is almost translucent, to form a windowpaning. 

At this stage change the fact beater with the dough hook, add the linseeds and mix on a low speed until well combined. Allow dough to rest for 10 mins, punch it down and fold the sides of the dough onto itself. Shape into a ball and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with clingfilm and ferment at room temperature until doubled in size, about 6 hours. 

Stretch gently the fermented dough and again fold the sides of the dough onto itself. 

Shape the loaf and transfer into a well floured proofing basket. Proof for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Meanwhile pre-heat the oven at the maximum temperature with the pizza stone inside. Flip-over the bread dough into the very hot baking stone, score and bake at 230ºC for 15 minutes, turn down the oven temperature to 200ºC and continue baking for 20 minutes, the for a further 15 minutes at 180ºC or until loaf sounds hollow.

Allow to cool completely onto a cooling rack. 

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Apple and cinnamon cake with stone ground flour!

 Recipe in Italian

It's been long time since I've baked  a cake..... actually I don't even remember when was the last time I did! For sure before I've started my diet, or better and healthy and balanced diet.

Some times I still need a treat though....and once in a while if I go out for dinner I have a dessert to finish with my meal, but to bake a cake and the smell of the cake baking in the kitchen is all another story..... There is nothing better on a cold afternoon, when you are home alone than having a  warm slice of cake with a nice steaming tea and a good book!

I got this recipe from my sister years ago, it's from an old family friend....I'm still wandering why it took me so long to bake this cake! I still tried to bake this cake with healthier ingredients so I used stone ground flour instead of plain flour and brown sugar.

Mine it's very small, my mould form PavonIdea  it's only 12 cm in diameter. If you want to make a large cake just double recipe.




APPLE AND CINNAMON CAKE

INGREDIENTS

• 150g stone ground flour (type 1)
• 90g brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 50ml semi skimmed milk
• 50ml sunflower seeds oil
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1 large apple

Whisk eggs with brown sugar until fluffy and doubled in size. Add the sieved flour, baking powder and cinnamon and mix with an electric mixer. Add the milk and oil and mix well until well combined. Peel and core the apple, then cut into thin slices half of it and into small cubes the other half of the apple. 

Mix the diced apple to the cake batter. Spread the thin apple slices into the base of the cake tin and pour batter over the apples. I used a silicon based mould , but if you use a spring form you need to grease and flour the tin first. 

Bake in hot oven at 160ºC for 30/35 minutes.

Allow to cool down and remove from tin

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Soft Sandwich Bread with Chia seeds!!!

Recipe in Italian

The day I baked the Brioche with stone ground flour my hubby said was the best sweet bread I have ever made ( I would say even the only one he tasted ). In truth the previous times I always used refined flour and sugar and thats the main reason he always refuse to taste any of them. But with that brioche I managed to tempt him.....I have to say it was almost impossible to resist with the good smell in the house! But anyway after all good comments about the brioche he also asked to bake a soft sandwich bread. Over the years I've studied a lot and tried to improve my baking skills to obtain a bread with a nice crumb and especially with a thick crust, ok probably in the last few months I baked to much bread with a nice crispy crust but thats the way I like bread. Everyone who follow my blogs nowadays knows that I love baking and if someone ask me to try new recipes I can't ignore the request. I've searched on the web for the perfect sandwich bread recipe, But they were all with refined flours, sugar and butter so modifying a few recipes I got this amazing bread! Delicious !!!




MULTI CEREAL SOFT SANDWICH BREAD WITH CHIA SEEDS

INGREDIENTS

Starter

• 82g multi-cereals flour (durum wheat, soft wheat, spelt, rye, rice, buckwheat, corn flour)
• 44g water
• 26g liquid sourdough starter (100%)

Final dough

• 420g multi-cereals flour
• 210g water
• 80g egg white
• 54g extra virgin olive oil
• 15g salt
• 1 tsp powder malt
• Chia seeds

Prepare the starter: Mix the sourdough, water and flour and let fermentation at room temperature for 12 hours.
In the morning prepare the final dough. On the stand mixer bowl mix the starter with the milk using the flat beater. Add the flour, malt, salt and egg whites.Knead well on medium speed until you have a smooth dough and until it picks off the sides and bottom of the bowl into a single mass. At this point add the olive oil in three stages, wait until is well incorporated before adding more oil. When all the olive oil is incorporated change the flat beater with the dough hook add the chia seeds and continue kneading. Continue kneading until you have a smooth, shiny and elastic dough. To check if the dough has been kneaded enough look for the 'window pane' effect. To do this cut a piece of dough from the ball, hold it up and try to stretch it out into a thin sheet. If you can make it thin enough to see light through it when you hold it up to the window, and the dough isn't tearing, then it is elastic enough to stop kneading. But if the dough tears when you are trying to stretch it then continue kneading for a few more minutes and try again. Place the dough in a oiled bow, cover with cling film and let fermentation start a room temperature for a few hours, then refrigerate for 10/12 hours. I then left bread dough to rise at room temperature overnight, about 8 hours.  When dough is doubled in size, divide in 3 equal pieces, form 3 smooth and perfect balls and transfer them into a large loaf mould ( mine is about 21x11cm). Cover with cling film and leave to prove for 2 – 3 hours, or until the dough has risen to just above the rim of the tin.
Brush the top of the bread wit some egg white and bake in a hot oven at 180ºC for 35/40 minutes. If the top of the bread gets to brown cover it with kitchen foil.
Allow bread to cool down before slicing! 

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Agedashi Tofu!!!

 Recipe in Italian
Hi Everyone!!!! I've got these photos on my files since july and all I've been publishing recently, at least in the Italian blog, is bread recipes or brioche. I know that many of you, or at least many Italians, will stuck up your nose, but spending lot's of time in Japan I got used to eat tofu and I actually love it! I love Asian food, Thai, Korean, Chinese or Japanese..... Tofu has a plain taste but cooked with good ingredients can be really delicious. I love Agedashi Tofu, it's one of my favourite Japanese dishes. Easy and quick to make!




AGEDASHI TOFU (FRIED TOFU)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 blocks of tofu  of 150g each
• 200ml water
• 2 tsp dashi stock powder 
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs mirin
• Potato starch to dust the tofu
• Frying oil
• Spring onions

Wrap tofu in kitchen paper to drain the excess water. Start to prepare the dash stock by boiling the 200ml of water. Add 2 teaspoons of dashi powder and mix well until dissolved. Add the soy sauce and mirin to the stock. Cut the tofu in two or three pieces and 

dust each piece with the potato starch. 

Fry the tofu in hot oil until lightly golden brown. Drain to remove the excess oil ( to remove it from the hot oil I used the slotted spoon from PavonIdea).

In a bowl serve one ladle of hot stock, add the fried tofu and sprinkle with some spring onions. Serve hot.  

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